This is a blog related to CRM Archaeology and all that goes with it. I chronicle my experiences owning an archaeology firm, post news stories, and try to have educational material as often as possible.

A few years ago - actually almost 10 years ago - I had a pretty bad experience with a company. Had I known anything about the way the Principle Investigator operated and how he ran that company then I would have thought twice about taking a permanent position there. When I finally left that place I was pretty upset. In response, and before I had a blog or even knew what one was, I created a group on LiveJournal (remember that?) for rating and talking about people and companies. I was angry and it didn't come off well. The moderator of the room I was in, or whatever they called it, shut me down - and rightly so.

My biggest mistake was in angrily writing about my experiences. I should have let it sit a while and then just documented what happened and let others judge for themselves. It wasn't a bad I idea - just poorly executed.

Uber-Like Ratings

Sometime in the near future I'm going to help create an agency that employs archaeologists and contracts them out to other companies. People will be employed by this company full time but work across the country like they do now. The advantage to the tech will be a permanent job with consistent pay, benefits, and retirement. The advantage to the company will be in not having to find a group of techs for each project, getting a crew of highly-qualified scientists with a simple phone call or request, and in writing one check for fieldwork, not many.

We're already used to writing reviews for hosts and drivers on AirBnB and on Uber. Likewise, the AirBnB hosts and Uber Drivers rate us. It's a two-way street. You wouldn't stay in an AirBnB that had low ratings and bad reviews and the host won't rent to you if you always trash the houses you stay in. It's the same with Uber.

Well, we don't have a rating system for archaeology companies yet - or do we? Take a look at Yelp. There are a surprising number of larger firms already on Yelp. Most don't have any reviews. If the firm you want to review isn't on there, you can add it. Now, this only works if we get an average of good and bad reviews over time. So, even if you had a good experience you should document it. After a season, we should be able to get a good sense of what a company is like to work for based on their 1-5 star review average. Personally, I wouldn't work for a company that had at least a 5-star rating based on a dozen or so reviews. There will always be that tech that rates them at 1-star for silly reasons, but, the good ratings should take hold if there are enough of them.

Please, don't abuse this. It only works if we're honest and provide both negative and positive reviews. Below, I've added a few companies that I found on Yelp. Feel free to add a review if you've worked for them.

One more cautionary note...many large firms have multiple offices. Be sure to rate that office and not the company as a whole. We have to be fair, after all.